Tuesday, 27 October 2015

Funding,
economic development and project management specialist Focus Consultants is
celebrating the news that the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has earmarked a £2.8
million grant for the British Horological Institute (BHI).

Focus developed
the HLF bid for the BHI, which plans to create a National Centre for Horology
at its Upton Hall base, near Newark in Nottinghamshire, to help train a new
generation of clock and watchmakers in the UK.

The project is
the first phase of an £8.5 million Masterplan that Focus has developed for the
site.

Dudley Giles,
Chief Executive Officer of the BHI, praised the work of Nottingham-based Focus
Consultants, which also has offices in London, Leicester and at Boston and
Aubourn in Lincolnshire.

“The team at
Focus Consultants has been great – we literally couldn’t
have done it without them. Their advice and guidance has been spot on and we
really feel that they are part of the BHI team, helping us to take the project
and the Masterplan through to completion,” he said.

Focus
Consultants Partner Kevin Osbon, who lives just two miles from Upton Hall, led
the creation of the long term Masterplan for the BHI and the consequent
development of the initial Phase 1 'Saving Time' project which has secured the
HLF award.

He said: “I
have been working on this project personally since August 2013 and the team at
Focus Consultants have worked closely with the BHI to create a long term
sustainable solution for the Upton Hall estate and secure their future as one
of the leading horological training establishments in the world. I am delighted
to hear that the HLF bid has been successful.

“Focus works with
organisations and attractions across the UK, but the BHI is a close neighbour,
being based in Nottinghamshire, and members
of the Focus team are really looking forward to working with the BHI team to
deliver phase 1 and then the overall Masterplan 'over time'.”

The BHI – a
membership organisation for people who make, repair, collect and sell clocks,
watches and other timepieces – plans to open the new centre in 2018 to address
the nationwide shortage of horologists by creating new training and workshop
facilities in a derelict stable block and glass house, allowing the BHI to
double the number of students it trains a year.

Historic England
has included Upton Hall – a Grade II* listed building – in its 2015 Heritage at
Risk Register.

HLF has
earmarked £2,852,600 for the project including a Development Grant of £160,300,
which the BHI will use to progress plans, produce a fully costed proposal,
apply for planning permission, and submit a second round application, when the
full grant amount will be released.

The centre will
be open daily and the public will be able to view students at work and visit
exhibitions with key pieces from the BHI collection, which includes clocks
going back to the 17th century, watches such as the timepiece carried by
Captain Scott on his ill-fated expedition to the Antarctic, and the first two
Speaking Clocks.

The historic
main building at Upton Hall will also be developed and access to the collection
will increase significantly with volunteer support and extended opening hours.
The centre anticipates thousands of visitors annually, including hundreds of
schoolchildren for whom special education areas will be set up. Collected from
1858, there are currently over a thousand artefacts on display and stored in
the reserve collection of the BHI, and as such it is unrivalled in the UK but
currently only open for public view three times a year.

Sir Peter Luff,
Chair of HLF, said: “From Big Ben and the Liver Building to the pocket watches
and timepieces carried by great explorers, clocks and clockmaking have a long
and proud history in the UK. Even as demand for these traditional skills rises,
the number of people trained has gone into steep decline. That is why we saw a
pressing need for this National Lottery investment which will ensure timepieces
are made, serviced, repaired and conserved in this country for many years to
come.”

Emma McClarkin, an East Midlands MEP with a portfolio
on international trade, said: “It is well known that there is a dire shortage
of training opportunities for watch and clockmakers around the world,
particularly in Europe. The BHI already has an international reputation and
links with our local universities. Now the creation of the National Centre for
Horology sets the Institute on course to address the horology skill shortage,
making sure that our watch and clockmaking expertise is passed on from
generation to generation, just like our magnificent timepieces.”

Focus specialises in creative approaches to securing
funding packages and delivering high quality projects across the UK. Since its
creation in 1994, Focus has helped to secure more than £953 million of grant
assistance for a range of projects and businesses across the UK and delivered
more than £1.3 billion of projects and programmes.

Friday, 23 October 2015

Haughton Honey is now available
to farm shops, delis, garden centres and other stores across central England,
the West Midlands and mid-Wales via wholesaler Bikold Foodservice.

It is the first major wholesaler
to take the brand, which was launched last year by bee farmer Cris Reeves.

Haughton Honey is part of the
ambient product range available to Ludlow-based Bikold’s network of retailers.
It is offered as a branded four-by-340g jar pack and wholesales at £15.20 per
pack/£3.80 a jar.

As a result of the partnership,
Haughton Honey’s direct wholesale offering will fall into line with the same
pack size and price offer.

“The relationship with Bikold
Foodservice is a milestone for Haughton Honey as it represents the first major
wholesale partnership since the brand was launched in 2014. It will make it
easier for retailers and trade customers across central England, the West
Midlands and mid Wales to stock Haughton Honey, and is a key building block in
our expansion plans,” said Cris, who is based in Cheshire.

“We anticipate this is the first
of a number of wholesalers across the UK who we hope will take the brand.”

The Haughton Honey cooperative
has approximately 1,600 hives spread across the North West and the Midlands,
including Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Warwickshire. It currently
supplies more than 60 stores, mainly across the North West and the Midlands but
the partnership with Bikold supports the brand’s plans to expand throughout the
UK.

Haughton Honey is raw honey which
comes straight from the hive, is cold extracted and never pasteurised which
means that it retains all of the natural enzymes and proteins that make English
honey so special. Haughton Honey is 100% natural and pure, and features traces
of dandelion, chestnut, blackberry, clover and other wildflowers.

Wednesday, 21 October 2015

A small Derbyshire housing scheme has been crowned as the overall
project of the year at the East Midlands fbe Awards 2015.

Category award winners also included the refurbishment and
regeneration of the Malt Cross in Nottingham and the development of a new HQ
for the Rutland Agricultural Society and new society and clubhouses for Oakham
Rugby Club and Royce Rovers Football Club.

At a sell-out ceremony staged at the City Rooms in
Leicester, around 150 people from the region's construction sector gathered to
hear about the schemes and the teams behind this year’s winning projects.

The overall winner was a scheme of six houses and two
bungalows at Hannah Bowman Way in Youlgrave, Derbyshire, developed by emh group
and built by Lindum Construction for Peak District Rural Housing Association
and Youlgrave Community Trust. Emh group and Lindum Group jointly nominated the
project. Other members of the team involved in the development of the mix of
affordable rent and shared ownership homes with priority for local people were
architect David Lewis Associates, structural engineer HSP Consulting and Low
Carbon Box.

The project, which had earlier taken the honours in the
residential category, lies in the Peak District village of Youlgrave and marked
the culmination of many years of work. The Code for Sustainable Homes level 4
homes were provided as a result of a local partnership between emh group, Peak
District Rural Housing Association and Youlgrave Community Land Trust, with
support from Derbyshire Dales District Council, with the design developed in
close consultation with the Peak District National Park Authority.

Judges said: “We found it
a difficult decision to pick the overall winner, as there were three excellent
section winners, of varying scale and type. However, we thought that the
Youlgrave project ticked so many boxes in terms of development, design,
community engagement and team work, and we felt it was a very deserving winner
of the East Midlands fbe Project of the Year.

“This scheme
took a considerable time to accomplish and was obviously a battle on many
fronts, not least in terms of planning, where a ‘village green’ application had
to be overcome, delaying matters by over 18 months, due to there being
objectors in the local community. Achieving Code for Sustainable Homes level 4
including all the enhanced ecology is quite an achievement given a tight
budget, and overall the project achieves a very sensitive and socially valuable
outcome, produced to an excellent quality standard of construction, all of
which will have taken a significant effort to achieve."

The winner of the regeneration category was The Malt Cross,
Nottingham - the refurbishment of Nottingham’s only surviving Victorian music
hall, built in 1877, and one of relatively few in the country. It was undertaken
by the Malt Cross Charitable Trust, and nominated by William Saunders
Partnership, who were the architect and structural engineer for the project.
Other team members were contractor Taylor Pearson the contractor and EP
Consulting, who handled the M & E design.

The project brought to life derelict floors and uncovered
heritage features that had lain hidden from public view and reconnected the
previously sub divided building back into one entity. The Malt Cross Music Hall
is occupied by a social enterprise café bar. It is also an entertainment and
arts venue which supports local talent. In addition it houses the Malt Cross
Trust’s outreach services, including Street Pastors and Safe Space.

A new HQ for the Rutland Agricultural Society and new
society and clubhouses for Oakham Rugby Club and Royce Rovers Football Club won
the non-residential scheme category. Submitted by developer and main contractor
DW Hicks, other members of the team were LE1 architects, structural engineer
Diamond Wood & Shaw and MDA Consulting.

The scheme created a new-build exhibition/function space and
offices for the Rutland Agricultural Society (RAS) with an attached clubhouse
and changing rooms for Oakham Rugby Club. A detached pavilion provides separate
changing facilities for Royce Rangers Football Club.

Jef Todd, regional chairman of the East Midlands fbe, said:
“We had a record-breaking number of submissions entered for this year’s awards,
which was great. The diversity of the finalists and the winners illustrates the
tremendous variety of top quality construction projects that are undertaken in
the region. I’d like to thank everyone who entered and congratulate the winners
and the teams behind the schemes.”

Compèred by former BBC East Midlands political editor John
Hess, the awards were sponsored by construction recruitment specialist Hays
Recruitment, civil engineering, building and M&E contractor North Midland
Construction, engineering and environmental consultants M-EC Consulting
Development Engineers, DW Hicks Building Co Ltd and chartered accountants and
business advisers Duncan & Toplis. Civil and structural engineering company
BSP Consulting sponsored the evening’s drinks reception.

The East Midlands fbe (Forum for the Built Environment), a property,
development and construction professionals' group, supported the East Midlands
NSPCC 'now I know' Appeal at the event, which had finalists from across
Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Rutland.

Wednesday, 14 October 2015

A major refurbishment project for global technology
organisation GE has been completed by J Tomlinson following a fire at the
premises last year.

The GE Measurement & Control site at Groby in
Leicestershire includes a new world class clean room for silicon processing – a
critical part of the manufacturing process for the advanced industrial pressure
sensors made at the site. It is the only British manufacturer of pressure
sensors and industrial calibrators that manufactures the key sensor element
entirely in-house.

J Tomlinson’s role in the project involved refurbishing approximately
1,600m² of office accommodation over two floors, which had been damaged in the
fire that originated in an adjoining building.

The £2 million office refurbishment was a joint venture
between the company’s construction division and its electrical engineering
services team.

Construction managing director at Nottingham-based J Tomlinson,
Martin Gallagher, said: “GE is a major globally known business – the Groby site
is one of 40 GE Measurement and Control facilities in 25 countries. J Tomlinson
is proud to have carried out the refurbishment of its two-storey office block in
Groby, which is a key part of its operation.”

The newly completed block has now been officially handed
over by J Tomlinson following a refurbishment project which involved installing
energy and cost-saving LED lighting alongsideassociated
office electrical and building works.

M&E Director, Carl Derrick from J Tomlinson commented
saying: “The office refurbishment at GE, Groby provided us with an opportunity
to work alongside our construction division, delivering benefits to the client
as part of our integrated solutions approach.”

With a combined 40-year history of silicon processing and
sensor manufacturing at the Groby site – first by Druck Ltd and then by GE when
it acquired Druck in 2002 – GE has earned a reputation for high quality, high
accuracy pressure sensor equipment for aerospace, oil and gas, power generation
and the automotive sector. Today, about 680 people work at the Groby site.

Graham Dawber, business leader for the Groby site, said:
“After a challenging 13 months, it is fantastic to have a new world class
silicon facility where we can focus on meeting our customers’ needs now and in
the future.

“With these improvements, we can better serve customer
demands and extend our leadership position in our target markets.”

President and CEO of GE UK & Ireland, Mark Elborne, was
joined by local dignitaries, including the Mayor of Hinckley and Bosworth,
Councillor Mrs Janice Richards, and members of the nearby community for an
official opening and tour of the building.

The clean room building for silicon processing was recently
completed by HCM Projects, with Precision Clean Rooms completing the rebuild of
the 8,600 sq ft laboratory.

J Tomlinson, which offers services in construction, refurbishment, repairs and
maintenance, mechanical and electrical engineering, energy efficiency,
renewables, and facilities management, is based in Lilac Grove, Beeston, near
Nottingham, and has offices across the East and West Midlands.

Earlier this year J Tomlinson was named in Deloitte’s Businesses Leading Britain 2014 report,
which provides insights into the UK’s 1,000 fastest-growing businesses with
annual revenues between £30 million and £1 billion. The company is expected to see its turnover increase from £54 million
in 2014 to £67 million this year, and with a forecast to rise again next year
to £90 million.

About Perfect 10 PR

Perfect 10 PR is run by Louise Duffield, who has worked in the media industry since 1987. As a qualified journalist, who has written for both regional and national newspapers and magazines, Louise knows how the media works and what makes a good story.

Here you will find details of client news, updates from Perfect 10 PR, which is based in Nottingham, and the occasional comment.